Mop and supporting frame therefor



J. A. MEINHABDT.

MOP AND SUPPORTING FRAME THEREFOR. APPLICATIONMLED 1uNE13. 1921.

sy/L 1 Jlllllllllllllllilllll JACoB A. nnrnnnnnr,

. or CHICAGO, ILILVrNoIs.

Mor nnnysnrroarme FRAME Tiananmen.

narines.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patellt'd ADT. 25,

Application yfiled June 13, 192g.. Serial No.`477,268

To @ZZ whom t may concern.'

Beit known that I, JACOB A. Mnirrimnn'r,

a citizen of the United States, residing Chicago, in the county ofCookland State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in a Mop and Supporting Frame Therefor, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in cleaning devices in general,but has particular relation to that type of such "devices used formopping or cleaning floors, walls and other surfaces, and-it consists incer-` tain peculiarities of the Construction, novel arrangement andcombination of the various parts thereof `as will be vhereinafter morefully set forth and specifically4 claimed.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a mop and,supporting frame therefor, which shall be simple and inexpensive inconstruction, strong, 4durable and etlicient in operation, with itsparts so made, i

frame therefor, of the above mentioned general character, in whichA thesaidr frame shall be Of such .construction as to be ever ready for theAmop to be placed and automatically maintained operative. positionthereon, and the mop so constructed .that it will be ever ready to beplaced and maintained for use v`on the frame, without lany preliminaryadjustments or V,changes inthe form or parts of either.

A further object is to provide a frame which shall be ofsuch-censtruction as tobereversible with respect hto :its handle,- thatis,

so that either face of thevframe maybe placed uppermostor adjacent thehandle.

Still anotherrobject is to furnish an improved and highly efiicientbearing connection between the handle and frame of the device wherebythey will self-adjustingly position themselves with .respect to leachother in its operation, without undue looseness between said members.

A still further object is the provision of a mop furnished with a headorframe engaging portion of a novel and improved kind, which is adaptablefor luse in connection with supporting frames of various kinds.

.Qther objects and advantages ofthe -invention will be disclosed inthefollowing description and explanation.

In the accompanying drawing- Fig. l' isa plan view of a mop and frametherefor constructed according tomy invention and showing the partsthereof `in about the positions they will occupy when' ready for use. y

F ig. 2 is a central sectional view taken on line'Q-Q of Fig. l lookingin the direction indicated bythe arrows. Fig. 3 is a greatly enlargedview lpartly'in perspective and partly ink section of a por'- tion Yof.the `iiexilole and elastic tube carried by the mop for detachablysecuring .the-latteron the'frame, .and l' Fig.` 4 is adetachedfrag'mental perspec` tive view of a modified form in the meansfor detachably mounting the mop on the frame.

Like numerals of :reference refer tocorresponding parts throughout theldifferent views oft-he drawing..`

Referring now moreparticularly to Fig-s.V

l and 2 of the drawing, the reference numeral-5 vdesignates asa wholethe frame of the device, which frame is substantially triangular `inoutlinesnand is made vof `a single piece inthe form kof a rod or largewire.'

As shown, the sides `6 Aofthe frame v5 'are arranged 'at-angles to leach,otherand atutheir juncture form a more or less pointedlportion.V

of Ithe frame for-'the purpose iof entering corners to be cleaned. .Oneofthe sides 6 is provided with an'inwardly extended arm 7 whichterminates short ofthe axial line of the frame as isclearly shown inFig. l, while the othersideof the frame is provided with aen-,inwardlyextended'arm .which is located in Ithe sameplajne with the sides andextens sion 7 but is .extended `first towards the side 6 lwith which itis connected,` and then tol wards thejother side 4of the frame, therebyproviding a shaft or arm 9 upon which the. Vbearing connection for .the

handleofthe device is mounted.

The shaft portion of the arm 8v is screwthreaded yas shown land hasloosely mounted thereon .a sleeve ,orcollar 10 which is of sulii-V 1l ofa socket member 12 which is preferably 11e l cient length lto `litsnugly between thefprongs 'f l tubular in shape and is by preferenceprovided on its inner surface with a plurality of pitched or inclinedribs 13 to co-act with the screw-threads 14E of the handle 15 which isfitted into said socket member. 'As shown, the prongs 11 of this memberare extended therefrom in parallelism and each is provided with atransverse opening for the recep` tion of the shaft 9.' Located on theouter surface of each of the prongs 11 and around the shaft, is a washer16, and located on the outer surface of each of said washers is a splitspring washer 17, which are held in place against the washers 16 bvmeans of nuts 18 one of which is located in screw engagement with theshaft 9 outwardly of each of the spring members 17.

1n assembling the parts of this bearing connection which unites theshaft 9 and handle 15, one of the nuts 18 is placed on the free end ofthe shaft 9 and screwed thereon to about the position adjacent the arm 8as 4shown in Fig. 1, after which one of the spring washers or members 17and one of the plain washers 16 is positioned on the shaft 9 against theinner surface of said nut. The prongs 11 of the socket member 12 havinglocated therebetween the sleeve 10, are then placed on the shaft 9 sothat one of said prongs will rest against the washer 16 adjacent the arm8 of the frame. Vhen thus positioned, the other washers 16 and 17 arepositioned on the outer portion of the shaft 9 and held in positionthereon by the nut 18 adjacent the free end of said shaft.

By this arrangement, it is apparent that by turning the nuts 18 in theproper direction the tension of the spring members 17 can be regulatedse as to increase or decrease the pressure of the prongs 11 of thesocket 12 against the ends of the sleeve 10, thereby affording means forholding` the socket 12 against too free movement on the shaft 9, yet soas to permit of its self-adjust1nent with respect to the frame while thedevice is being used.

The mop of the device'is designated as a whole by the numeral 19 and maybe of the ordinary or well-known construction,

, but in order to render it adaptable for coaction with the frame 5 as asupporttherefor, said mop is provided about its middle on opposedsurfaces with binding strips 20 and 21 which, when the mop 19y is foldedaround the frame engaging tube or member, as is shown in Fig. 2, willlie on the inner and outer surfaces respectively of the mop. Thesebinding strips 2O and 21 are secured together byv means of stitches 22,which stitches also pass through the body of the mop 19, and thus form aloop or hem for the frame engaging tube or member 28 which tube ormember is by preference in the form of a flexible and somewhat elasticmetal tube of a suflicient length, when placed on the frame 5, to extendthereon from a point near the arm 8 to near the end of the other arm 7of the frame as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. y

The frame engaging tube or member is designated as a whole by thenumeral 23 and consists' of a single piece 24C of spirally' wound sheetmetal which is formed between its edges with oppositely disposedchannels 25 and 26, the outer edge 27 of the channel 25 overlapping thefree edge 28 of the channel 26 in each convolution of the spirally'wound tube, thereby affording flexibility and elasticity orlongitudinal extension of the tube. This tube is of sufficient diameterto conveniently receive therein the supporting frame 5 and by reason ofthe exibility of the tube, it is apparent that after the mop 19 has beenmounted thereon, it can be readily placed on the frame 5 with its partspositioned substantially as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, when it isobvious that by reason of the inwardly extended or curved arms 7 and 8of the frame, the said engaging tube or member will lbe maintained inthe proper position on the frame against accidental displacement.

In using this frame engaging tube or member 23, it is manifest that themop head or frame engagingportion will engage or fit into thecorrugations of the tube 23 between the channels thereof and thusprevent the mop sliding longitudinally with respect to the tube.Furthermore, it will be understood that as the tube is extensible, whenit is placed on the frame 5, or rather when the arm 7 of said frame isinserted in one end of the tube will assume their normal positions andthus grip interposed portions of the cloth of the mop between thechannels 25 so as to securely h'old the mop against slidable movement onthe tube. i

In Fig. 4L of the drawing I have illustrated a fragment of a modifiedform ofthe frame engaging member adapted to be carried kin the loop orhembf the mop in a similar manner to that in which the tube 28 iscarried by the mop, which consistsofa ,spiralv coil 29 of wire of asuitableA size to fit snugly around the frame 5 when the same isinserted thereinto.

This modified form of the frame engaging 1n ember is of a suitablelength to extend, when on the frame 5, from near the inturned portion 8of the arm 8 to a point near the end of the arm 7 as in the first abovedescribed construction. As this modified construction is flexible aswell as longitudinally extensible, it is obvious that the deformingaction of the spirals thereof, when it is placed on the skeleton frame5, Will be similar to those of the tube 23 and above described, and willpermit the same function With respect to the mop in the hem or loop ofwhich the modified construction of the frame engaging member is located,

It Will beunderstood that thevvire rod or` other material out of whichthe frame 5 is made, is compara-tively stiff or rigid, and that all ofits parts will be located in the same plane so that uniform pressurewill be exerted on the mop When pressed against the surface to becleaned by the mop frame.

While I have shown the frame as being substantially triangular inoutlines, yet I do not Wish to be understood as limiting myself to suchform, as I may make the frame of various shapes, yet in such a manner asto permit a mop carrying a'frame engaging member to be slid on one endof the frame towards the other end thereof.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim as new` and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a device of the class described, the combination with a frame madeof relatively stiff' material, of a flexible and longitudinallyextensible mop-carrying frame-engaging metal member slidably mounted onthe frame.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination With a frame madeof relatively stiff' material, of a corrugated flexible andlongitudinally extensible l mopcarrying frame-engaging member slidablymounted on the frame.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a frame madeof relatively stiff material, of a fieXible and longitudinallyeXtensible mop carrying member slidably mounted on the frame, saidmember being a separate element from the mop'.

JACOB A. MEINHARDT.

